Buhari assures that the contributions of the late Archbishop to humanity would resonate over generations.
President Muhammadu Buhari, former president Olusegun Obasanjo, ex-United States President Barack Obama and other world leaders yesterday joined South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa mourning Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
Ramaphosa announced the passing of the outspoken Nobel Peace Prize laureate and anti-apartheid veteran. He was 90.
He described his demise as another chapter “of bereavement in the nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans, who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa”.
President Buhari and Chief Obasanjo the late archbishop as a famous cleric, who never shied away from confronting global and South Africa’s shortcomings and injustices.
The African National Congress (ANC) Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, former U.S. President and Nobel Peace laureate Jimmy Carter; British Prime Minister Boris Johnson; India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema; Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama are among the world leaders who mourned Tutu’s passage.
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In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, Buhari commiserated with his South African counterpart, the Tutu family, especially his spouse, Mrs. Leah Tutu, and South Africans over the passage of the global hero.
President Buhari assured that the contributions of the late Archbishop to humanity, recorded through his voice, writings and activities would resonate over generations.
The statement reads: “On behalf of government and people of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari condoles with President Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africans and the global Christian body, particularly Anglican Communion, over passing of Archbishop Emeritus, Desmond Tutu, 90, on Sunday, December 26, 2021.
“President Buhari believes the death of the iconic teacher, human rights activist, leader of thought, scholar and philanthropist, further creates a void in a world in dire need of wisdom, integrity, courage and sound reasoning, which were qualities that the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1984, typified and exemplified in words and actions.
“As a South African, global citizen and renowned world leader, the President affirms that the historic role Archbishop Tutu played in the fight against apartheid, enduring physical assaults, jail terms and prolonged exile, took him beyond the pulpit to global, political relevance, and his position, under President Nelson Mandela, in heading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission provided healing and direction for his country and the world.”
In a condolence letter to Ramaphosa, Obasanjo recalled the role played by the late Tutu in getting Nigeria’s debt cancelled.
Chief Obasanjo said: “Over the years, Reverend Tutu had shown focused, credible, bold, sensitive and purposeful leadership not just to members of the Anglican Church, but to all Christians.”
The letter, which was released to the media by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, added: “Tutu had been part of building and strengthening the Anglican Church, and its eminent place in the Church system in South Africa today is not unrelated to his selfless service and leadership”.
On Nigeria’s debt cancellation, Obasanjo said he acknowledged late Tutu’s “uncommon solidarity and the deep passion with which he had argued Nigeria’s case for full debt cancellation by the contents of his letter to Mr. Gordon Brown, the then UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, during my administration as the President of Nigeria.
“This heroic advocacy effort of his with respect to Nigeria’s indebtedness to the Paris Club on behalf of Nigeria was very much in his character.”
Also, Governor Dapo Abiodun expressed grief over the death of the South African anti-apartheid hero.
Abiodun, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, said he was shocked by the death of the anti-apartheid hero.
To Obama, the late archbishop was a towering figure and “moral compass”, who fought against injustice in South Africa and elsewhere”.
Obama, in a statement, said the Nobel Peace laureate “was a mentor, a friend and a moral compass for me and so many others.
“A universal spirit, Archbishop Tutu was grounded in the struggle for liberation and justice in his own country, but also concerned with injustice everywhere,” Obama said, adding that Tutu sought to “find humanity in his adversaries.”
“Michelle and I will miss him dearly,” he said.
Obama in 2009 presented Tutu with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Carter, in his condolence, described him as a friend whose ministry he said exemplified “love, freedom and compassion”.
“He lived his values in the long struggle to end apartheid in South Africa, in his leadership of the national campaign for truth and reconciliation, and in his role as a global citizen,” Carter, age 97, said in a statement.
“His warmth and compassion offered us a spiritual message that is eternal.”
Also, Johnson tweeted: “I am deeply saddened to hear of the death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He was a critical figure in the fight against apartheid and in the struggle to create a new South Africa.’’
The British PM said he will remember Tutu for his spiritual leadership and irrepressible good humour.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said Desmond Tutu transformed the people around the world while he lived.
In a post on his Facebook page yesterday, Welby described Tutu as a man who showed extraordinary courage and bravery.
“Arch’s love transformed the lives of politicians and priests, township dwellers and world leaders. The world is different because of this man,” he said.
”Archbishop Tutu was a prophet and priest, a man of words and action, one who embodied the hope and joy that were the foundations of his life.
”He was a man of extraordinary personal courage and bravery: when the police burst into Cape Town Cathedral, he defied them by dancing down the aisle.
“He was a man of enormous vision: seeing the possibilities for building the Rainbow Nation long before anyone else, except perhaps President Mandela.
“His vision and bravery were allied with a canny political sense and wisdom, enabling him to be a healer and apostle of peace while so many still saw wounds and war.
The African National Congress (ANC) joined South Africans and the global community in mourning the sad passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
“Indeed the big baobab tree has fallen. South Africa and the mass democratic movement have lost a tower of moral conscience and an epitome of wisdom.
“We extend our revolutionary condolences to his wife Mama Leah Tutu, his family, friends as well as colleagues at the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. May Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s soul rest in eternal peace,” the ANC said.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation also paid tribute, saying Tutu’s “contributions to struggles against injustice, locally and globally, are matched only by the depth of his thinking about the making of liberatory futures for human societies.
“He was an extraordinary human being; a thinker; a leader; a shepherd.”
He retired from public life in 2010.
Modi said Tutu was a “guiding light” for countless people globally.
“His emphasis on human dignity and equality will be forever remembered. I am deeply saddened by his demise, and extend my heartfelt condolences to all his admirers. May his soul rest in peace,’’ he said on Twitter.
Hichilema said he was saddened by Tutu’s passing, describing the late cleric as a “gallant son of the African soil who fought against the injustices of humanity”.
He said Tutu belonged to “a generation of selfless African leaders that gallantly challenged the injustices of apartheid and racial subjugation against the African people in South Africa and other marginalized people around the world.”
In his condolence message, Kenyan President described the late Tutu as an African icon of freedom, peace, and reconciliation and termed his death a blow to Africa as a whole where he is deeply respected and celebrated as a peacemaker.
The Dalai Lama wrote a letter of condolence to Archbishop Tutu’s daughter, Rev Mpho Tutu, praising the archbishop for being a “true humanitarian” and a committed advocate for human rights.
“With his passing away, we have lost a great man, who lived a truly meaningful life,” the Dalai Lama said from his home in Dharamsala in northern India.
“He was devoted to the service of others, especially those who are least fortunate. I am convinced the best tribute we can pay him and keep his spirit alive is to do as he did and constantly look to see how we too can be of help to others.”
The two men enjoyed a close and long friendship and met on many occasions, most notably in 2015 when Tutu spent a week in Dharamsala when they grappled with the problem of how to increase peace and joy in the world.
Tutu served as the first Black archbishop at the St. Georges Cathedral in Cape Town in the 1980s and won the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize.
He was the last surviving South African laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize.
-The Nation
